Courtesy of tomaseenfoley.com

Carthage tastes luck of the Irish

Isaac McQuistion
Staff Reporter

On November 7, Carthage played host to Tomaseen Foley's ‘Irish Times,' a music program dedicated to recreating the feel of an Irish Rambling House. It was the latest entry in the illustrious Carthage Chamber Music Series.

Rambling Houses were common in rural Ireland during the 1940s and 50s. For major events such as weddings, wakes or just to enjoy the company of the community, people would gather at a neighbor's house and wile the night away playing music, singing songs, telling stories and dancing. Oh, and drinking. There was lots of drinking.Foley's group entertained the (mostly older) crowd with rousing jigs and equally rousing reels, and earned their standing ovation.
Outside of Foley, who served as emcee for the event, there were four members of the Irish Times band.

William Coulter played guitar and the whistle. For those readers that do not already know, he is widely acknowledged as the best Celtic guitar player in the world (besides Slash).

Katie McMahon lent her beautiful and expressive voice to the proceedings. She also played the Irish harp. McMahon toured the world with "Riverdance" for several years, and she did not disappoint. Had she just sung a few traditional Irish songs in English, she would have been fantastic, but she also sang several songs in Gaelic. To hear these pieces in the language they were first performed was truly spectacular.

Katie Linnane, a champion level Irish step dancer, manned the fiddle that is so ubiquitous in Irish music. She also happens to be only 19, a fact that made certain members of the audience feel particularly aged.

Brian Bigley, another champion level Irish step dancer, played the whistle and flute, as well as the absurdly complicated uilleann pipes.

The uilleann pipes are a Rube Goldberg-contraption that bares more than a passing resemblance to some of the instruments used by the residents of "Whoville." They require an almost impossible amount of dexterity and coordination to play. Very basically, they are a modified version of the Scottish bagpipes. The primary difference is that with these, the musician does not blow into them. Instead, he uses a bellows, which he operates with one elbow, which pumps air into a bag, and he manipulates with his other elbow. From there, the air is sent into the actual pipes, where the musician will use not only his fingers, but also his thumbs, wrists and knees, as the song warrants. It is a fiendish device.

The result, which sounds a bit like Fran Drescher with a head cold, is nonetheless oddly appealing, and it is absolutely hypnotizing to watch a master play them.
There were a few disappointing aspects of the show. One was Foley's segment, when he attempted to give the audience a taste of traditional Irish storytelling. Foley told a story from his youth about a pseudo-wake that he attended. While it was entertaining to listen to Foley's thick Irish accent, and he is certainly a master storyteller, especially when it comes to relating humorous anecdotes, the story seemed to last too long. Before Foley started the story, he warned the audience of the Irish conversational habit of ‘beating around the bush.' Still, there comes a certain point where ‘beating around the bush' turns into ‘needlessly prolonging a story that could have been wrapped up neatly five minutes ago.'

Another negative was the slightly contrived nature of it all. It was obvious that everything about the performance was carefully scripted, and at a few points the show felt a bit forced and unnatural. Still, this did not distract from the program as a whole.

Overall, Tomaseen Foley's ‘Irish Times' was a fantastic installment in the Chamber Music Series that treated the audience to wonderful music and a small taste of Irish culture.

Current PHOTO Carmelo Chimera

College politics model true United States

Carmelo Chimera
Copy Editor

As per usual, now that election season is over, average citizens will go back to their everyday lives of complaining about politics and not actually doing anything about it. But this election saw involvement by young persons on an historic scale.

The Chair of the Carthage College Republicans Leah Coleman, '10, and the Chair of the Carthage College Democrats Jeannie Sullivan, '11, were just two influential leaders during this election and planned numerous bipartisan efforts to keep students involved in the political process.
Despite having two very different political views, Coleman and Sullivan are close friends who feel strongly about "reaching across the aisle" to produce results through bipartisan effort. Coleman said, "We are the United States of America, and we need to be united. It doesn't just need to be a nation of Democrats and Republicans; both parties need to work together for us to be successful."

Sullivan elaborated by explaining that Republicans and Democrats provide an important check on each other in the government. "If our parties are spatting, how does that look to the rest of the world?" she asked. "Do we look united? It's about coming together and realizing we're all one people."
The duo has worked tirelessly, together and separately with their respective groups, to encourage student awareness and involvement by bringing in speakers, holding special informational events and working to encourage early voting with students.

"Overall I was really [impressed] with student voters, and how many votes we got out," said Coleman. "We wanted to make an impact and let our country know that we have a say. The older generations think we're uneducated and think we don't really care about what's going on."

Coleman congratulated Sullivan and the Democrats on their work to "get out the vote." "It's exciting no matter what side your on to see students active," said Sullivan. "For me personally, that's the thing I'm most proud of is voter turnout." She cited a CNN poll showing more young people voted than elderly, a definite violation of stereotypes.

The duo is not as cynical about future political involvement by students. They believe there is enough excitement left over to carry on into the future. Sullivan asserted that this generation can no longer be absent in politics.

"We are such a unique generation, growing up in what I would say are our most influential years during the Bush administration a controversial administration, and the Clinton administration with the Lewinsky scandal before that in our youngest days, we've had a lot of reason not to trust the government," said Sullivan. "But this is our election, and I think our generation has to be politically active."

Coleman agreed that events like 9/11 and the Iraq War have been too much a part of students lives to ignore politics. Coleman worked closely with Sullivan in the weeks leading up to the election to encourage voter awareness and early voting. Both parties worked at the campaign headquarters of their respective candidates, and many students interned for each campaign. The Democrats sponsored early voting shuttles, but used the event more to get out the vote and less to speak about the issues.

While both groups are worn out from the election, the season starts again early next year with elections in the spring. And both Coleman and Sullivan believe the election is just part of the bigger picture and the issues are more important.

As for what's next for the groups, Coleman said that even though the election was a setback for Republicans, "We're still here, and we're going to remain active and fight for what we believe in."

The Democrats and the Republicans plan to work with other organizations, and each other on campus to continue to work on the issues and inspire involvement in the next election. The groups have discussed a joint barbecue in the spring, as well as forums and other information sessions. But they will spend J-Term brainstorming many more bipartisan efforts for next semester.

Sullivan hopes her teamwork with Coleman's will mirror what is to come in the federal government. "Hopefully our being able to work together will be a reflection of Congress and them being able to work together as well."

So just because the election is over, the issues remain. Readers who voted and have been so passionate about the issues thus far need to remain involved, and fight for the issues that are important to them, and not simply sit back and expect elected officials to solve the problems for them. Anyone interested should contact Sullivan or Coleman to join their groups and get involved.